sa 


SOME    OBSERVATIONS 


ON   THE 


ETHNOGRAPHY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY 


OF   THE 


AMERICAN    ABORIGINES. 
t 


SAMUEL  GEORGE  MORTON,  M.  D., 

* 

Author  of  the  Crania  Americana,  Crania  ^Egyptiaca,  <fec. 


EXTRACTED   FROM   THE   AMERICAN   JOURNAL   OF  SCIENCE,   VOL.    II,   SECOND  SERIES. 


NEW    HAVEN: 

PRINTED    BY    B.  L.   HAMLEN, 

Printer  to  Yale  College. 

1846. 


< 


SOME    OBSERVATIONS 


ON  THE 


ETHNOGRAPHY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY 


OF  THE 


AMERICAN   ABORIGINES 


NOTHING  in  the  progress  of  human  knowledge  is  more  remark 
able  than  the  recent  discoveries  in  American  archeology,  whether 
we  regard  them  as  monuments  of  art  or  as  contributions  to  science. 
The  names  of  Stephens  and  Norman  will  ever  stand  preeminent 
for  their  extraordinary  revelations  in  Mexico  and  Yucatan ;  which, 
added  to  those  previously  made  by  Del  Rio,  Humboldt,  Waldeck 
and  D'Orbigny  in  these  and  other  parts  of  our  continent,  have 
thrown  a  bright,  yet  almost  bewildering  light,  on  the  former  con 
dition  of  the  western  world. 

Cities  have  been  explored,  replete  with  columns,  bas-reliefs, 
tombs  and  temples  ;  the  works  of  a  comparatively  civilized  people, 
who  were  surrounded  by  barbarous  yet  affiliated  tribes.  Of  the 
builders  we  know  little  besides  what  we  gather  from  their  monu 
ments,  which  remain  to  astonish  the  mind  and  stimulate  research. 
They  teach  us  the  value  of  archaeological  facts  in  tracing  the 
primitive  condition  and  cognate  relations  of  the  several  great 
branches  of  the  human  family ;  at  the  same  time  that  they  prove 
to  us,  with  respect  to  the  American  race  at  least,  that  we  have  as 
yet  only  entered  upon  the  threshold  of  investigation. 

1 


4  On  the  EthnograpTiy*  and 

In  fact,  ethnography  and  archaeology  should  go  hand  in  hand ; 
and  the  principal  object  I  have  in  view  in  giving  publicity  to  the 
following  too  desultory  remarks,  is  to  impress  on  travellers  and 
others  who  are  favorably  situated  for  making  observations,  the 
importance  of  preserving  every  relic,  organic  or  artificial,  that  can 
throw  any  light  on  the  past  and  present  condition  of  our  native 
tribes.  Objects  of  this  nature  have  been  too  often  thrown  aside 
as  valueless ;  or  kept  as  mere  curiosities,  until  they  were  finally  lost 
or  become  so  defaced  or  broken  as  to  be  useless.  To  render  such 
relics  available  to  science  and  art,  their  history  and  characteristics 
should  be  recorded  in  the  periodicals  of  the  day  •  by  which  means 
we  shall  eventually  possess  an  accumulated  mass  of  facts  that  will 
be  all-important  to  future  generalization.  I  grant  that  this  course 
has  been  ably  pursued  by  many  intelligent  writers,  and  the  Amer 
ican  Journal  of  Science  is  a  fruitful  depository  of  such  observa 
tions.*  With  every  acknowledgment  to  these  praiseworthy  ef 
forts,  let  us  urge  their  active  continuance.  Time  and  the  progress 
of  civilization  are  daily  effacing  the  vestiges  of  our  aboriginal 
race ;  and  whatever  can  be  done  to  rescue  these  vestiges  from  ob 
livion,  must  be  done  quickly. 

We  call  attention  in  the  first  place,  to  two  skulls  from  a  mound 
about  three  miles  from  the  mouth  of  Huron  river,  Ohio.  They 
were  obtained  by  Mr.  Charles  W.  Atwater,  and  forwarded  to  Mr. 
B.  Silliman,  Jr.,  through  whose  kindness  they  have  been  placed 
in  my  hands.  These  remains  possess  the  greater  interest,  because 
the  many  articles  found  with  them  present  no  trace  of  European 
art ;  thus  confirming  the  opinion  expressed  in  Mr.  Atwater's  let 
ter  : — "  There  are  a  great  many  mounds  in  the  township  of  Hu 
ron,"  he  observes,  "  all  which  appear  to  have  been  built  a  long 
time  previous  to  the  intercourse  between  the  Indians  aud  the, 
white  men.  I  have  opened  a  number  of  these  mounds,  and  have 
not  discovered  any  articles  manufactured  by  the  latter.  A  piece 
of  copper  from  a  small  mound  is  the  only  metal  I  have  yet 
found." 

The  stone  utensils  obtained  by  Mr.  Atwater  in  the  present  in 
stance,  were,  as  usual,  arrow  heads,  axes,  knives  for  skinning  deer, 
sling-stones,  and  two  spheroidal  stones  on  which  I  shall  offer  some 

*  See  more  particularly  the  communications  of  Mr.  R.  C.  Taylor,  in  vol.  xxxiv, 
of  Mr.  S.  Taylor,  in  vol.  xxxiv,  and  of  Prof.  Forshey  in  vol.  xlix. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  5 

remarks  in  another  place.  The  materials  of  which  these  articles 
are  formed,  are  jasper,  quartz,  granite  stained  by  copper,  and  clay 
slate,  all  showing  that  peculiar  time-worn  polish  which  such  sub 
stances  acquire  by  long  inhumation. 

The  two  skeletons  were  of  a  man  and  a  woman.  "  They 
had  been  buried  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  and  the  earth  raised 
over  them.  They  lay  on  their  backs  with  their  feet  to  the  west." 
The  male  cranium  presents,  in  every  particular,  the  characteris 
tics  of  the  American  race.  The  forehead  recedes  less  than  usual 
in  these  people,  but  the  large  size  of  the  jaws,  the  quadrangular 
orbits,  and  the  width  between  the  cheek  Fig.  i. 

bones,  are  all  remarkably  developed; 
while  the  rounded  head,  elevated  vertex, 
vertical  occiput  and  great  inter-parietal 
diameter,  (which  is  no  less  than  5-7  in 
ches,)  render  this  skull  a  type  of  nation 
al  conformation.  (Fig.  1.) 

The  female  head  possesses  the  same 
general  character,  but  is  more  elongated 
in  the  occipital  region,  and  of  more  deli 
cate  proportions  throughout.* 

Similar  in  general  conformation  to  these  are  all  the  mound  and 
other  skulls  I  have  received  since  the  publication  of  my  work 
on  American  Crania,  viz.  five  from  the  country  of  the  Araucos, 
in  Chili,  from  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Page  of  Valparaiso ;  six  of  ancient 
Otomies.  Tlascalans  and  Chechemecans,  from  Don  J.  Gomez  de 
la  Cortina  of  the  city  of  Mexico ;  three  from  near  Tampa,  in 
Florida,  from  Dr.  R.  S.  Holmes,  U.  S.  A. ;  one  from  a  mound 
on  Blue  river,  Illinois,  from  Dr.  Brown  of  St.  Louis ;  and  four 
sent  me  by  Lieut.  Meigs,  U.  S.  A.,  who  obtained  them  from 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  Detroit,  in  Michigan.  To  these  may 
be  added  two  others  taken  from  ancient  graves  near  Fort  Chartres, 
in  Illinois,  by  Dr.  Wistlizenus  of  St.  Louis;  a  single  cranium 
from  the  cemetery  of  Santiago  de  Tlatelolco,  near  the  city  of 
Mexico,  which  I  have  received  through  the  kindness  of  the  Baron 
von  Gerolt,  Prussian  minister  at  Washington ;  and  another  very 


*  We  take  this  occasion  to  observe,  that  skulls  taken  from  the  mounds,  should  at 
once  be  saturated  with  a  solution  of  glue  or  gum,  or  with  any  kind  of  varnish,  by 
which  precaution  further  decomposition  is  effectually  prevented. 


6  On  the  Ethnography  and  ArchcBology 

old  skull  from  the  Indian  burying  grounds  at  Guamay,  in  North 
ern  Peru,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Paul  Swift.  Last  but 
not  least,  I  may  add  the  skull  obtained  by  Mr.  Stephens*  from  a 
vault  at  Ticul,  a  ruined  aboriginal  city  of  Yucatan,  and  some 
mutilated  but  interesting  fragments  brought  me  from  the  latter 
country,  by  my  friend  Mr.  Norman.f 

These  crania,  together  with  upwards  of  four  hundred  others  of 
nearly  sixty  tribes  and  nations,  derived  from  the  repositories  of 
the  dead  in  different  localities  over  the  whole  length  and  breadth 
of  both  Americas,  present  a  conformable  and  national  type  of 
organization,  showing  the  origin  of  one  to  be  equally  the  origin 
of  all. 

To  this  prevading  cranial  type  I  have  already  adverted.  Even 
the  long-headed  Aymaras  of  Peru,  whom,  in  common  with  Prof. 
Tiedemann,  I  at  first  thought  to  present  a  congenitally  different 
form  of  head  from  the  nations  who  surrounded  them,  are  proved, 
by  the  recent  discoveries  of  M.  Alcide  D'Orbigny,  to  have  be 
longed  to  the  same  race  as  the  other  Americans,  and  to  owe  their 
singularly  elongated  crania  to  a  peculiar  mode  of  artificial  com 
pression  from  the  earliest  infancy. J 

But  there  is  evidence  to  the  same  effect,  but  of  more  ancient 
date  than  any  we  have  yet  mentioned.  The  recent  explorations 
of  Dr.  Lund  in  the  district  of  Minas  Geraes,  in  Brazil,  have  brought 
to  light  human  bones  which  he  regards  as  fossil,  because  they  ac 
company  the  remains  of  extinct  genera  and  species  of  quadrupeds, 
and  have  undergone  the  same  mineral  changes  with  the  latter. 
He  has  found  several  crania,  all  of  which  correspond  in  form  to 
the  present  aboriginal  type.<§> 

Even  the  head  of  the  celebrated  Guadaloupe  skeleton  forms 
no  exception  to  the  rule.  The  skeleton  itself  is  well  known  to- 
be  in  the  British  Museum,  but  wants  the  cranium,  which  how 
ever  is  supposed  to  have  been  recovered  in  the  one  more  recently 
found  in  Guadaloupe  by  Mr.  L'Herminier,  and  brought  by  him 


*  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan,  I,  p.  281. 

i  Rambles  in  Yucatan,  p.  217. 

t  L'Homme  Americain,  Tome  I,  p.  306.  I  corrected  my  error  before  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  M.  D'Orbigny's  very  interesting  work.  Amer.  Jour,  of  Science, 
vol.  xxxviii,  No.  2.  Jour.  Acad.  Nat.  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  viii;  and 
again  in  my  Distinctive  Characteristics  of  the  Aboriginal  Race  of  America,  p.  6. 

§  See  Proceedings  of  the  Acad.  of  Nat.  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  for  Dec.  1844. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  7 

to  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  Dr.  Moultrie,  who  has  described 
this  very  interesting  relic,  makes  the  following  observations : — 
"  Compared  with  the  cranium  of  a  Peruvian  presented  to  Prof. 
Holbrook  by  Dr.  Morton,  in  the  museum  of  the  state  of  South 
Carolina,  the  craniological  similarity  manifested  between  them  is 
too  striking  to  permit  us  to  question  their  national  identity. 
There  is  in  both  the  same  coronal  elevation,  occipital  compres 
sion,  and  lateral  protuberance  accompanied  with  frontal  depres 
sion,  which  mark  the  American  variety  in  general.  "* 

There  is  additional  proof  of  identity,  not  only  of  original  con 
formation,  but  of  conventional  modification  of  the  form  of  the  head, 
which  I  may  be  excused  from  reverting  to  in  this  place,  inasmuch 
as  the  materials  I  shall  use  have  but  recently  come  to  my  hands. 
The  first  of  these  subjects  is  represented  Fig 

by  the  subjoined  wood-cut,  (fig.  2.)  It 
was  politely  sent  me  by  Dr.  John  Hous- 
toun,  an  intelligent  surgeon  of  the  British 
Navy,  with  the  following  memorandum : 
"  From  an  ancient  town  called  Chiuhiu, 
or  Atacama  Baja,  on  the  river  Loa,  and 
on  the  western  edge  of  the  desert  of  Ata 
cama.  The  bodies  are  nearly  all  buried 
in  the  sitting  posture,  [the  conventional 
usage  of  most  of  the  American  nations 

from  Patagonia  to  Canada,]  with  the  hands  either  placed  on  each 
side  of  the  head,  or  crossed  over  the  breast. "f 


*  Amer.  Jour,  of  Science,  xxxii,  p.  364. 

t  See  Proceedings  of  the  Acad.  of  Nat.  Sciences  of  Phila.,  vol.  ii,  p.  274.  If  I  mis 
take  not,  I  was  the  first  to  bring  forward  this  mode  of  interment  practiced  by  our  abo 
riginal  nations,  as  a  strong  evidence  of  the  unity  of  the  American  race.  "  Thus  it  is 
that  notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  language,  customs  and  intellectual  character, 
we  trace  this  usage  throughout  both  Americas,  affording,  as  we  have  already  stated, 
collateral  evidence  of  the  affiliation  of  all  the  American  tribes."— Crania  Ameri 
cana,  p.  246,  and  pi.  69.  Mr.  Bradford  in  his  valuable  work,  American  Antiquities, 
has  added  some  examples  of  the  same  kind;  and  the  Chevalier  D'Eichthal  has  also 
adduced  this  custom,  in  connexion  with  some  traces  of  it  in  Polynesia,  to  prove  an 
exotic  origin  for  a  part  at  least  of  the  American  race.  See  Mdmoires  de  la  Socitti 
Ethnologique  de  Paris,  Tome  II,  p.  236.  Whence  arose  this  conventional  position 
of  the  body  in  death  ?  This  question  has  been  often  asked  and  variously  answered. 
It  is  obviously  an  imitation  of  the  attitude  which  the  living  Indian  habitually  as 
sumes  when  sitting  at  perfect  ease,  and  which  has  been  naturally  transferred  to  his 
lifeless  remains  as  a  fit  emblem  of  repose. 


8  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archeology 

This  cranium  (and  another  received  with  it)  has  that  remark 
able  sugar-loaf  form  which  renders  them  high  and  broad  in  front, 
with  a  short  antero-posterior  diameter,  both  the  forehead  and  oc 
ciput  bearing  evidence  of  long  continued  compression.  They 
correspond  precisely  with  the  descriptions  given  by  Cieza,  Tor- 
quemada  and  others  among  the  earliest  travellers  in  Peru,  who  saw 
the  natives  in  various  parts  of  the  country  with  heads  rounded 
precisely  in  this  manner.*  Fig.  3. 

The  second  head  figured,  (fig.  3,)  is 
that  of  a  Natchez  Indian,!  obtained  from  a 
mound  not  far  from  that  city  by  the  late 
Mr.  James  Tooley,  Jr.,  and  by  him  pre 
sented  to  me.  The  face  in  this,  as  in  the 
former  instance,  has  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  native  Indian;  and  the  cranium 
has  undergone  precisely  the  same  process 
of  artificial  compression,  although  these 
tribes  were  separated  from  each  other 
by  the  vast  geographical  distance  of  four  thousand  miles ! 

Could  we  discover  the  cranial  remains  of  the  older  Mexican 
nations,  we  should  doubtless  find  many  of  them  to  possess  the 
same  fanciful  type  of  conformation : J  for  if  either  of  the  skulls 
figured  above  could  be  again  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood,  would 
we  not  have  restored  to  us  the  very  heads  that  are  so  abundantly 
sculptured  on  the  monuments  of  Central  America,  and  so  graphi 
cally  described  by  Herrera,  when  he  tells  us  that  the  people  of 
Yucatan  flattened  their  heads  and  foreheads  ? 

The  following  diagrams  are  copied,  on  an  enlarged  scale,  from 
Mr.  Stephens's  Travels,^  and  will  serve  in  further  illustration  of 
this  interesting  subject.  They  are  taken  from  bas-reliefs  in  the 


*  Crania  Americana,  p.  116. 

t  I  have  been  looking  to  Dr.  Dickerson,  of  Natchez,  for  more  complete  details 
derived  from  the  tumuli  of  that  ancient  tribe  which  formed  a  link  between  the 
Mexican  nations  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  savage  hordes  on  the  other.  Dr.  Dicker- 
son  is  amply  provided  with  interesting  and  important  materials  for  this  inquiry, 
which  we  trust  he  will  soon  make  public. 

t  The  skull  brought  me  from  Ticul  by  Mr.  Stephens,  is  that  of  a  young  female. 
It  presents  the  natural  rounded  form;  which  accords  with  the  observation  of  M. 
D'Orbigny,  (L'Homme  Americain,)  that  the  artificial  moulding  of  the  head  among 
some  tribes  of  Peruvians  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  men. 

§  Travels  in  Central  America,  vol.  ii,  p.  311. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  9 

Palace  at  Palenque.  The  personage  fig.  4,  (whose  head-dress* 
we  have  partly  omitted, )  appears  to  be  a  king  or  chieftain,  at 
whose  feet  are  two  suppliants,  naked  and  cross-legged,  of  whom 
we  copy  the  one  that  preserves  the  most  perfect  outline,  (fig.  5.) 

Fig.  4.  Fig,  5. 


The  principal  figure  has  better  features  and  expression  than  the 
other,  but  their  heads  are  formed  on  the  same  model ;  whence 
we  may  infer  that  if  the  suppliant  is  a  servant  or  a  slave  of  the 
same  race  with  his  master,  the  artificial  moulding  of  the  cranium 
was  common  to  all  classes.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  assume 
that  he  is  an  enemy  imploring  mercy,  we  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  singular  custom  of  which  we  are  speaking,  was  in  use 
among  other  and  surrounding  nations ;  which  latter  inference  is 
confirmed  by  other  evidence,  that,  for  example,  derived  from  the 
Natchez  tribe,  and  the  clay  effigies  so  abundantly  found  at  the 
ruined  temples  of  the  sun  and  moon  at  Teotihuacan,  near  the 
city  of  Mexico.* 

I  can  aver  that  sixteen  years  of  almost  daily  comparisons  have 
only  confirmed  me  in  the  conclusions  announced  in  my  Crania 
Americana,  that  all  the  American  nations,  excepting  the  Eskimaux, 
are  of  one  race,  and  that  this  race  is  peculiar  and  distinct  from  all 
others.  The  first  of  these  propositions  may  be  regarded  as  an 
axiom  in  ethnography ;  the  second  still  gives  rise  to  a  diversity 
of  opinions,  of  which  the  most  prevalent  is  that  which  would 
merge  the  American  race  in  the  Mongolian. 

It  has  been  objected  to  a  common  origin  for  all  the  American 
nations,  and  even  for  those  of  Mexico,  that  their  monuments 

*  Crania  Americana,  p.  146. 


10  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archaology 

should  present  so  great  a  variety  in  the  configuration  of  the  head 
and  face ;  a  fact  which  forcibly  impresses  every  one  who  ex 
amines  the  numerous  effigies  in  baked  clay  in  the  collection  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society ;  yet  they  are  all  made  of 
the  same  material  and  by  the  same  national  artists.  The  varieties 
are  indeed  endless  ;  and  Mr.  Norman  in  his  first  work,  has  arrived 
at  a  reasonable  conclusion,  in  which  we  entirely  agree  with  him, 
"  that  the  people  prepared  these  penates  according  to  their  respec 
tive  tastes,  and  with  little  reference  to  any  standard  or  canon."* 

They  appear  to  have  exercised  much  ingenuity  in  this  way, 
blending  almost  every  conceivable  type  of  the  human  counte 
nance,  and  associating  this  again  with  those  of  beasts,  birds,  and 
various  fanciful  animals,  which  last  are  equal  in  uncouthness  to 
any  productions  of  the  Gothic  artists  of  the  middle  ages. 

Mr.  Norman  in  his  late  and  interesting  volume  of  travels  in 
Cuba  and  Mexico,  discovered  in  the  latter  country  some  remark 
able  ruins  near  the  town  of  Panuco,  and  among  them  a  curious 
sepulchral  effigy.  "  It  was  a  handsome  block  or  slab  of  stone, 
(wider  at  one  end  than  the  other,)  measuring  seven  feet  in  length, 
with  an  average  of  nearly  two  and  a  half  feet  in  width  and  one 
foot  in  thickness.  Upon  its  face  was  beautifully  wrought,  in  bold 
relief,  the  full  length  figure  of  a  man,  in  a  loose  robe  with  a  girdle 
about  his  loins,  his  arms  crossed  on  his  breast,  his  head  encased 
in  a  close  cap  or  casque,  resembling  the  Roman  helmet  (as  repre 
sented  in  the  etchings  of  Pinelli)  without  the  crest,  and  his  feet 
and  ankles  bound  with  the  ties  of  sandals.  The  figure  is  that  of 
a  tall  muscular  man  of  the  finest  proportions.  The  face,  in  all  its 
features,  is  of  the  noblest  class  of  the  European  or  Caucasian 
race."f 

Mr.  Norman  was  himself  struck  "  with  the  resemblance  be- . 
tween  this,  and  the  stones  that  cover  the  tombs  of  the  Knights 
Templar  in  some  of  the  ancient  churches  of  the  old  world,"  but 
he  thinks  that  neither  this  nor  any  other  circumstance  proves  this 
effigy  to  have  been  of  European  origin  or  of  modern  date.  "  The 
material,"  he  adds,  "  is  the  same  as  that  of  all  the  buildings  and 
works  of  art  in  this  vicinity,  and  the  style  and  workmanship  are 
those  of  the  great  unknown  artists  of  the  western  hemisphere ;" 


*  Rambles  in  Yucatan,  p.  216. 

t  Rambles  by  Land  and  Water,  p.  145. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  11 

and  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion,  as  many  ingenuous  minds  have 
done  before  him,  that  these  and  the  other  archaeological  remains 
of  Mexico  and  Yucatan,  "  are  the  works  of  a  people  who  have 
long  since  passed  away  ;  and  not  of  the  races,  or  the  progenitors 
of  the  races,  who  inhabited  the  country  at  the  epoch  of  the  dis 
covery."* 

With  the  highest  respect  for  this  intelligent  traveller,  I  am  not 
able  to  agree  with  him  in  his  conclusion  j  but  I  should  not  now 
revive  my  published  opinions  or  contest  his,  were  it  not  that  some 
new  light  appears  to  me  to  have  dawned  on  this  very  question. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  regard  the  effigy  found  near  Panuco 
as  probably  Caucasian  ;  so  does  Mr.  Norman ;  but  instead  of  re 
ferring  it  to  a  very  remote  antiquity,  or  to  some  European  oc 
cupancy  of  Mexico  long  before  the  Spanish  conquest,  we  will 
venture  to  suggest,  that  even  if  the  town  of  Panuco  was  itself 
older  than  that  event,  (of  which  indeed  we  have  no  doubt,)  it  is 
consistent  with  collateral  facts  to  infer,  that  the  Spaniards  may 
have  occupied  this  very  town,  in  common  with,  or  subsequent  to, 
the  native  inhabitants,  and  have  left  this  sepulchral  monument. 
That  the  Spaniards  did  sometimes  practice  this  joint  occupancy, 
is  well  known ;  and  that  they  have,  in  some  instances,  left  their 
monuments  in  places  wherein  even  tradition  had  almost  lost  sight 
of  their  former  sojourn,  is  susceptible  of  proof. 

Mr.  Gregg,  in  a  recent  and  instructive  work  on  the  "Com 
merce  of  the  Prairies,"  states  the  following  particulars,  which  are 
the  more  valuable  since  he  had  no  opinions  of  his  own  in  refer 
ence  to  the  American  aborigines,  and  merely  gives  the  facts  as 
he  found  them. 

Mr.  Gregg  describes  the  ruins  called  La  Gran  Qtiivira,  about 
100  miles  south  of  Santa  Fe,  as  larger  than  the  present  capital  of 
New  Mexico.  The  architecture  of  this  deserted  city  is  of  hewn 
stone,  and  there  are  the  remains  of  aqueducts  eight  or  ten  miles 
in  length  leading  from  the  neighboring  mountains.  These  rains 
"  have  been  supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  a,  pueblo  or  aboriginal 
city ;"  but  he  adds  that  the  occurrence  of  the  Spanish  coat  of 
arms  in  more  than  one  instance  sculptured  and  painted  upon  the 
houses,  prevents  the  adoption  of  such  an  opinion  j  and  that  tra 
ditional  report  (and  tradition  only)  mentions  this  as  a  city  that 

*  Rambles  by  Land  and  Water,  p.  5i03. 

2 


12  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archaology 

was  sacked  and  desolated  in  the  Indian  insurrection  of  1680.* 
Now  had  it  not  been  for  the  occurrence  of  the  heraldic  paintings, 
this  city  might  have  been  still  regarded  as  of  purely  Indian  origin 
and  occupancy ;  as  might  also  the  analogous  ruins  of  Abo,  Tagi- 
que  and  Chilili  in  the  same  vicinity ;  for  although  these  may  have 
been  originally  constructed  by  the  natives,  yet  as  they  are  sup 
posed  to  be  near  the  ancient  mines,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
conquerors  in  these,  as  in  many  other  instances,  drove  out  the 
rightful  owners,  and  took  possession  for  themselves  ;f  for  that 
they  did  possess  and  inhabit  the  towns  above  enumerated  is  a  fact 
beyond  question. 

Why  may  not  events  of  an  analogous  character  have  taken 
place  at  Panuco  ?  Was  it  not  probably  an  Indian  city  into  which 
the  Spaniards  had  intruded  themselves,  and  having  left  traces  of 
their  sojourn,  as  at  La  Gran  Quivira,  subsequently,  owing  to 
some  dire  catastrophe,  or  some  new  impulse,  abandonded  it  for 
another  and  preferable  location  ?  This,  we  suggest,  is  a  reason 
able  explanation  of  the  presence  of  the  Caucasian  effigy  found 
by  Mr.  Norman  among  the  deserted  ruins  of  Panuco. 

Mr.  Stephens  has,  I  think,  conclusively  proved  that  the  past 
and  present  Indian  races  of  Mexico  were  cognate  tribes.  I  had 
previously  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  from  a  different  kind 
of  evidence.  What  was  manifest  in  the  physical  man  is  corrobo 
rated  by  his  archaeological  remains.  The  reiterated  testimony 
of  some  of  the  early  Spanish  travellers,  and  especially  of  Bernal 
Diaz  and  Herrera,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  this  question ; 
and  all  that  is  necessary  in  the  chain  of  evidence,  is  some  link  to 
connect  the  demi-civilized  nations  with  the  present  uncultivated 
and  barbarous  tribes.  These  links  have  been  supplied  by  Mr. 
Gregg.  Those  peculiar  dwellings  and  other  structures,  with  in 
clined  or  parapet  walls,}  and  with  or  without  windows,  which 
are  common  to  all  epochs  of  Peruvian  and  Mexican  architecture, 
are  constructed  and  occupied  by  the  Indians  of  Mexico  even  at 
the  present  day.  After  describing  the  general  character  of  these 


*  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  I,  p.  165. 

t  Ibid.  1,270. 

t  I  am  aware  that  the  walls  of  the  ancient  Mexican  and  Peruvian  edifices  are 
often  vertical ;  but  where  this  is  the  case  the  pyramidal  form  is  attained  by  piling, 
one  on  the  other,  successive  tiers  of  masonry,  each  receding  from  the  other  and 
leaving  a  parapet  or  platform  at  its  base. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  13 

modern  domicils,  Mr.  Gregg  goes  on  to  observe,  that  "  a  very 
curious  feature  in  these  buildings,  is  that  there  is  most  generally 
no  direct  communication  between  the  street  and  the  lower  rooms, 
into  which  they  descended  from  a  trap-door  from  the  upper  story, 
the  latter  being  accessible  by  means  of  a  ladder.  Even  the  en 
trance  at  the  upper  stories  is  frequently  at  the  roof.  This  style 
of  building  appears  to  have  been  adopted  for  security  against 
their  marauding  neighbors  of  the  wilder  tribes,  with  whom  they 
were  often  at  war. 

"  Though  this  was  their  most  usual  style  of  architecture,  there 
still  exists  a  Pueblo  of  Taos,  composed,  for  the  most  part,  of  but 
two  edifices  of  very  singular  structure — one  on  each  side  of  a 
creek,  and  formerly  communicating  by  a  bridge.  The  base  story 
is  a  mass  of  near  four  hundred  feet  long,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
wide,  and  divided  into  numerous  apartments,  upon  which  other 
tiers  of  rooms  are  built,  one  above  another,  drawn  in  by  regular 
grades,  forming  a  pyramidal  pile  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  and 
comprising  some  six  or  eight  stories.  The  outer  rooms  only  seem 
to  be  used  for  dwellings,  and  are  lighted  by  little  windows  at  the 
sides,  but  are  entered  through  trap-doors  in  the  azoteas  or  roofs. 
Most  of  the  inner  apartments  are  employed  as  granaries  and  store 
rooms,  but  a  spacious  hall  in  the  centre  of  the  mass,  known  as 
the  estufa,  is  reserved  for  their  secret  councils.  These  two  build 
ings  afford  habitation,  as  is  said,  for  over  six  hundred  souls. 
There  is  likewise  an  edifice  in  the  Pueblo  of  Picuris  of  the  same 
class,  and  some  of  those  of  Moqui  are  also  said  to  be  similar."* 

The  Indian  city  of  Santo  Domingo,  which  has  an  exclusive 
aboriginal  population,  is  built  in  the  same  manner,  the  material 
being,  as  usual,  sun-burnt  bricks ;  and  my  friend  Dr.  Wm.  Gam- 
bel  informs  me,  that  in  a  late  journey  from  Santa  Fe  across  the 
continent  to  California,  he  constantly  observed  an  analogous  style 
of  building,  as  well  in  the  dwellings  of  the  present  native  in 
habitants,  as  in  those  older  and  abandoned  structures  of  whose 
date  little  or  nothing  is  known. 

Who  does  not  see  in  the  builders  of  these  humbler  dwellings, 
the  descendants  of  the  architects  of  Palenque,  and  Yucatan? 
The  style  is  the  same  in  both.  The  same  objects  have  been  ar 
rived  at  by  similar  modes  of  construction.  The  older  structures 

*  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  I,  p.  277. 


14  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archeology 

are  formed  of  a  better  material,  generally  of  hewn  stone,  and 
often  elaborately  ornamented  with  sculpture.  But  the  absence  of 
all  decoration  in  the  modern  buildings,  is  no  proof  that  they  have 
not  been  erected  by  people  of  the  same  race  with  those  who  have 
left  such  profusely  ornamented  monuments  in  other  parts  of 
Mexico  ;  for  the  ruins  of  Pueblo  Bonito,  in  the  direction  of  Na- 
vajo,  and  those  of  the  celebrated  Casas  Grandes  on  the  western 
Colorado,  which  were  regarded  by  Clavigero  as  among  the  oldest 
Toltecan  remains  in  Mexico,  are  destitute  of  sculpture  or  other 
decoration.  In  fact,  these  last  named  ruins  appear  to  date  with 
the  primitive  wanderings  of  the  cultivated  tribes,  before  they 
established  their  seats  in  Yucatan  and  Guatimala,  and  erected 
those  more  finished  monuments  which  could  only  result  from  the 
combined  efforts  of  populous  communities,  acting  under  the  favor 
able  influence  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Every  race  has  had  its 
center  or  centers  of  comparative  civilization.  The  American 
aborigines  had  theirs  in  Peru,  Bogota  and  Mexico.  The  people, 
the  institutions  and  the  architecture  were  essentially  the  same  in 
each,  though  modified  by  local  wants  and  conventional  usages. 
Humboldt  was  forcibly  impressed  by  this  archaeological  identity, 
for  he  himself  had  traced  it,  with  occasional  interruptions,  over 
an  extent  of  a  thousand  leagues ;  and  we  now  find  that  it  gradu 
ally  merges  itself  into  the  ruder  dwellings  of  the  more  barbarous 
tribes ;  showing,  as  I  have  often  remarked,  that  there  is,  in  every 
respect,  a  gradual  ethnographic  transition  from  these  into  the 
temple-builders  of  every  American  epoch.* 

I  shall  close  this  communication  by  a  notice  of  certain  discoidal 
stones  occasionally  found  in  the  mounds  of  the  United  States. 
Of  these  relics  I  possess  sixteen,  of  which  all  but  two  were  found 
by  my  friend  Dr.  Wm.  Blanding,  during  his  long  residence  in 
Camden,  South  Carolina.  These  disks  were  accompanied,  as 
usual,  by  earthern  vessels, '  pipes  of  baked  clay,  arrow-heads  and 
other  articles,  respecting  which  Dr.  Blanding  has  given  me  the 
following  locality : — "  All  the  Indian  relics,  save  three  or  four, 
which  I  have  sent  you,  were  collected  on  or  near  the  banks  of 
the  Wateree  river,  Kershaw  district,  South  Carolina ;  the  greater 
part  from  the  mounds  or  near  the  foot  of  them.  All  the  mounds 


*  See  my  Inquiry  into  the  Distinctive  Characteristics  of  the  Aboriginal  Race  of 
America,  2d  edit.,  Philad.  1844. 


of  the  American  Aborigines. 


15 


that  I  have  observed  in  this  state,  excepting  these,  do  not  amount 
to  as  many  as  are  found  on  the  Wateree  within  the  distance  of 
twenty  four  miles  up  and  down  the  river,  between  Lancaster  and 
Sumpter  districts.  The  lowest  down  is  called  Nixon's  mound, 
the  highest  up,  Harrison's." 

"  The  discoidal  stones,"  adds  Dr.  Blanding,  "  were  found  at 
the  foot  of  the  different  mounds,  not  in  them.  They  seemed  to 
be  left,  where  they  were  no  doubt  used,  on  the  play  grounds." 

The  disks  are  from  an  inch  and  a  half  to  six  inches  in  diam 
eter,  and  present  some  varieties  in  other  respects. 


Fig.  1  represents  a  profile  of  the  simplest  form  and  at  the 
same  time  the  smallest  size  of  these  stones,  being  in  diameter 
about  an  inch  and  three  quarters.  The  upper  and  under  surfaces 
are  nearly  plane,  with  angular  edges  and  oblique  margin,  but  with 
out  concavity  or  perforation. 

Fig.  2.  A  similar  form,  slightly  concave  on  each  surface. 

Fig.  3.  A  large  disk  of  white  quartz,  measuring  five  inches  in 
diameter  and  an  inch  and  three  fourths  in  thickness.  The  mar 
gin  is  rounded,  and  both  surfaces  are  deeply  concave  though  im- 
perforate. 

Fig.  4  is  another  specimen  four  inches  in  diameter,  deeply  con 
cave  from  the  margin  to  the  center,  with  a  central  perforation. 
The  margin  itself  is  slightly  convex.  The  concave  surface  is 
marked  by  two  sets  of  superficial  grooved  lines,  which  meet  some 
thing  in  the  form  of  a  bird-track.  This  disk  is  made  of  a  light- 
brown  ferruginous  quartz. 

Fig.  5  is  a  profile  view  of  a  solid  lenticular  stone,  much  more 
convex  on  the  one  side  than  the  other,  formed  of  hard  syenitic 
rock. 


16  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archeology 

Besides  these  there  are  other  slight  modifications  of  form  which 
it  is  unnecessary  to  particularize. 

These  disks  are  made  of  the  hardest  stones,  and  wrought  with 
admirable  symmetry  and  polish,  surpassing  any  thing  we  could 
readily  conceive  of  in  the  humbler  arts  of  the  present  Indian 
tribes :  and  the  question  arises,  whether  they  are  not  the  works  of 
their  seemingly  extinct  progenitors  ? — of  that  people  of  the  same 
race,  (but  more  directly  allied  to  the  Toltecans  of  Mexico,)  who 
appear  in  former  times  to  have  constituted  populous  and  cultivated 
communities  throughout  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  the 
southern  and  western  regions  towards  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
whose  last  direct  and  lineal  representatives  were  the  ill-fated 
Natchez  ? 

I  have  made  much  inquiry  as  to  the  localities  of  these  and 
analogous  remains,  but  hitherto  with  little  success.  I  am  assured 
that  they  have  been  found  in  Missouri,  perhaps  near  St.  Louis ; 
and  in  very  rare  instances  in  the  northern  part  of  Delaware.  Dr. 
Ruggles  has  sent  me  the  plaster  model  of  a  small,  perforated,  but 
irregularly  formed  stone  of  this  kind,  taken  from  an  ancient  In 
dian  grave  at  Fall  River  in  Rhode  Island ;  but  Dr.  Edwin  H. 
Davis,  of  Chilicothe,  in  a  letter  recently  received  from  him,  in 
forms  me  that  he  had  obtained,  during  his  excavations  in  that 
vicinity,  no  less  than  "  two  hundred  flint  disks  in  a  single  mound, 
measuring  from  three  and  a  half  to  five  inches  in  diameter,  and 
from  half  an  inch  to  an  inch  in  thickness,  of  three  different  forms, 
round,  oval  and  triangular."  These  appear,  however,  to  be  of  a 
different  construction  and  designed  for  some  other  use  than  those 
I  have  described ;  and  Dr.  Davis  himself  offers  the  probable  sug 
gestion,  that  "  they  were  rude  darts  blocked  out  at  the  quarries 
for  easy  transportation  to  the  Indian  towns."  The  same  gentle 
man  speaks  of  having  found  other  disks  formed  of  a  micaceous 
slate,  of  a  dark  color  and  highly  polished.  These  last  appear  to 
correspond  more  nearly  to  those  we  have  indicated  in  the  above 
diagrams. 

Besides  these  disks,  I  have  met  with  a  few  spheroidal  stones, 
about  three  inches  in  diameter.  One  of  these  accompanies  the 
disks  from  South  Carolina,  and  is  marked  with  a  groove  to  re 
ceive  the  thumb  in  throwing  it.  A  similar  but  ruder  ball  is  con 
tained  among  the  articles  found  by  Mr.  Atwater  in  the  mound  near 
Huron,  Ohio. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  17 

What  was  the  use  of  the  disks  in  question  ?  Those  who  have , 
examined  the  series  in  my  possession  have  offered  various  expla 
nations  ;  but  the  only  one  that  seems  in  any  degree  plausible,  is 
that  of  my  friend  Dr.  Blanding,  who  supposes  them  to  have  been 
used  in  a  game  analogous  to  that  of  the  quoits  of  the  Europeans. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  discoidal  stones  much  resembling  these 
have  been  found  in  Scandinavia  ;*  whence  I  was  at  first  led  to 
suppose  it  possible,  especially  in  consideration  of  their  apparently 
circumscribed  occurrence  in  this  country,  that  they  might  have 
been  introduced  here  by  the  Northmen ;  a  conjecture  that  seems 
to  lose  all  foundation  since  these  relics  have  been  found  as  far 
west  as  the  Mississippi. 

Note. — Since  the  preceding  remarks  were  written,  I  have  re 
ceived  from  my  friend,  Mr.  William  A.  Foster,  of  Lima,  ten 
skulls  and  two  entire  mummied  bodies  from  the  Peruvian  ceme 
tery  at  Arica.  "  This  cemetery,"  observes  Mr.  Foster,  "  lies  on  the 
face  of  a  sandhill  sloping  towards  the  sea.  The  external  surface 
occupied  by  these  tombs,  as  far  as  we  explored,  I  should  say  was 
five  or  six  acres.  In  many  of  the  tombs  three  or  four  bodies 
were  found  clustered  together,  always  in  the  sitting  posture,  and 
wrapped  in  three  or  four  thicknesses  of  cloth,  with  a  mat  thrown 
over  all." 

These  crania  possess  an  unusual  interest,  inasmuch  as,  with 
two  exceptions,  they  present  the  horizontally  elongated  form,  in 
every  degree  from  its  incipient  stage  to  its  perfect  development. 

By  what  contrivance  has  the  rounded  head  of  the  Indian  been 
moulded  into  this  fantastic  shape  ?  I  have  elsewheref  offered 
some  explanations  of  this  subject ;  but  the  present  series  of  skulls 
throws  yet  more  light  on  it,  and  enables  me  to  indicate  the  pre 
cise  manner  in  which  this  singular  object  has  been  attained. 

It  is  evident  that  the  forehead  was  pressed  downwards  and 
backwards  by  two  compresses,  (probably  a  folded  cloth,)  one 
on  each  side  of  the  frontal  suture,  which  was  left  free ;  a  fact 
that  explains  the  cause  of  the  ridge,  which,  in  every  instance, 


*  See  Journal  of  the  Antiquarian  Society  of  Denmark,  published  in  Copenhagen 
in  the  Danish  language,  vol.  i,  tab.  2,  figs.  52,53. 
t  Jour.  Acad.  Nat.  Sciences  of  Phi  lad.,  vol.  viii. 


18  On  the  Ethnography  and  Archeology 

replaces  that  suture  by  extending  from  the  root  of  the  nose  to  the 
coronal  suture.     To  keep  these  compresses  in  place,  a  bandage 
was  carried  over  them  from  the  base  of  the  occiput  obliquely  for 
wards  ;  and  then,  in  order  to  confine  the  lateral  portions  of  the 
skull,  the  same  bandage  was  continued  by  another  turn  over  the  ^ 
top  of  the  head,  immediately  behind  the  coronal  suture,  and  prob 
ably  with  an  intervening  compress ;  and  the  bandaging  was  re 
peated  over  these  parts  until  they  were  immovably  confined  in . 
the  desired  position. 

Every  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  pliable  condition  of  the 
cranial  bones  at  birth,  will  readily  conceive  how  effectually  this  ap 
paratus  would  mould  the  head  in  the  elongated  or  cylindrical  form ; 
for,  while  it  prevents  the  forehead  from  rising,  and  the  sides  of  the 
head  from  expanding,  it  allows  the  occipital  region  an  entire  free 
dom  of  growth  ;  and  thus  without  sensibly  diminishing  the  vol 
ume  of  the  brain,  merely  forces  it  into  a  new  though  unnatural 
direction,  while  it  preserves,  at  the  same  time,  a  remarkable  sym 
metry  of  the  whole  structure. 
The  following  outline  of  one 
of  these  skulls,  will  further  il 
lustrate  my  meaning ;  mere 
ly  premising  that  the  course 
of  the  bandages  is  in  every 
instance  distinctly  marked 
by  a  corresponding  cavity 
of  the  bony  structure,  ex 
cepting  on  the  forehead,  where  the  action  of  a  firm  compress 
has  left  a  plane  surface. 

This  conformation,  as  we  have  already  observed,  was  prevalent 
among  the  old  Aymara  tribes  which  inhabited  the  shores  and  isl 
ands  of  the  Lake  of  Titicaca,  and  whose  civilization  seems  evi 
dently  to  antedate  that  of  the  Inca  Peruvians.  I  was  in  fact  at 
one  time  led  to  consider  this  form  of  head  as  peculiar  to,  and 
characteristic  of,  the  former  people ;  but  Mr.  Foster's  extensive 
observations  conclusively  prove  that  it  was  as  common  among 
some  tribes  of  the  sea  coast,  as  among  those  of  the  mountainous 
region  of  Bolivia ;  that  it  belonged  to  no  particular  nation  or  tribe  ; 
and  that  it  was,  in  every  instance,  the  result  of  mechanical  com 
pression. 


of  the  American  Aborigines.  19 

In  my  Crania  Americana  I  have  given  abundant  instances  of  a 
remarkable  vertical  flattening  of  the  occiput,  and  irregularity  of 
its  sides,  among  the  Inca  Peruvians  who  were  buried  in  the  royal 
cemetery  of  Pachacamac,  near  Lima.  These  heads  present  no 
other  deviation  from  the  natural  form  ;  and  even  this  irregularity 
I  have  thought  might  be  accounted  for  by  a  careless  mode  of 
binding  the  infant  to  the  simple  board,  which,  among  many  In 
dian  tribes  of 'both  North  and  South  America,  is  a  customary 
substitute  for  a  cradle.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  even  this 
configuration  was  intentional,  and  may  have  formed  a  distinctive 
badge  of  some  particular  caste  of  these  singular  people,  among 
whom  a  perfectly  natural  cranium  was  of  extremely  rare  oc 
currence. 

We  are  now  acquainted  with  four  forms  of  the  head  among 
the  old  Peruvians  which  were  produced  by  artificial  means,  viz  : 

1.  The  horizontally  elongated,  or  cylindrical  form,  above  de 
scribed. 

2.  The  conical  or  sugar-loaf  form,  represented  in  the  preced 
ing  diagrams. 

3.  The  simple  flattening  or  depression  of  the  forehead,  causing 
the  rest  of  the  head  to  expand,  both  posteriorly  and  laterally ;  a 
practice  yet  prevalent  among  the  Chenooks  and  other  tribes  at 
the  north  of  the  Columbia  river,  in  Oregon. 

4.  A  simple  vertical  elevation  of  the  occiput,  giving  the  head 
in  most  instances  a  squared  and  inequilateral  form. 

A  curious  decree  of  the  ecclesiastical  court  of  Lima,  dated  A.  D. 
1585,  and  quoted  by  the  late  Prof.  Blumenbach,  alludes  to  at  least 
four  artificial  conformations  of  the  head,  even  then  common 
among  the  Peruvians,  and  forbids  the  practice  of  them  under- 
certain  specified  penalities.  These  forms  were  called  in  the  lan 
guage  of  the  natives,  "Caito,  Oma,  Opalla,  &c. ;"  and  the  contin 
uance  of  them  at  that  period,  affords  another  instance  of  the 
tenacity  with  which  the  Peruvians  clung  to  the  usages  of  their 
forefathers. 

3 


